AN: Sorry I didn't post for the past few days some stuff kinda came up but now I'm back and will continue the story more consistently.
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Once everyone got dressed in their new clothes, they all sat around a table together to eat some lunch.
They enjoyed their time together, and after they were done, they sat down and caught up with each other. But then Ren asked the question; he had been waiting for an answer too.
"How did you guys end up here?"
Eleonora was the first to answer Ren.
"It may not be easy to talk about, but you should know."
*One Week Earlier*
The UNS Eternity joined the ships UNS Kyoto, UNS Annapolis, UNS Manchester, UNS Toronto, and UNS Marseille in the second ever exploration of a new system in order to establish a colony on another planet. Last time this was attempted, humanity began its war against the civilization of Alpha Centauri.
Captain Aurora was sitting on the bridge, waiting for the green light to start the new warp systems that were installed with the warp drives, allowing ships to travel faster in space.
"Is everything ready to go?" Captain Aurora asked.
"Yes, ma'am, we are waiting for the rest of the fleet to send us their green lights, and then the mission should begin." One of the ship's pilots said.
"Perfect. Tell the crew to be ready for anything; we're running blind at the moment with no intel." Captain Aurora said.
"Yes, ma'am." the pilot said.
Captain Aurora sat back down in her captain's chair with one thousand thoughts flowing through her head. After all, this hadn't been attempted in years, and the last time they did this, it started a war.
She dismissed these thoughts as there was nothing she could do now that the mission was about to be underway, but one thought stayed with her.
"I wonder what Ren would've thought about this..."
*Sentinel repair bay*
"Alright, we need to get these things for deployment at a moment's notice! No slacking, and I swear if I see one of you slacking off, I'll send you out into a battle myself!" Keira ordered the entire mechanic crew.
"Make sure nothing is going wrong; you're about to be a part of history; don't be the idiot that messes up!" Zoe yelled out.
Keira and Zoe, being the perfect in sync mother-daughter duo, had every single mechanic working as hard as they could; even if the mechanics were angry about it, they knew how serious this moment was.
Along with the mechanics, the entirety of Fireteam Epsilon were ready for deployment, each inside their personal sentinels, just waiting for the word that they would be needed.
"Everyone ready?" Eleonora asked on comms.
"All squad members show green for deployment" Lena responded on comms.
Lena had taken up her spot in the handler offices, with her screen showing the status of all the remaining pilots of Fireteam Epsilon.
Her hand brushed against the screen that showed red marks where they had lost in the battle of the Kuiper Belt. On every mission, she would always mourn the fallen members of her team, and each time she vowed to continue improving her handling skills to protect the remaining members of Epsilon.
"Sam Robinson, Chloe Elliott and..."
*Inside of Scarlet's Sentinel*
"Ren..."
Scarlet put her hand on the fragment of Ren's sentinel she had on her hanger. Every day she would come to her sentinel to pray for his return, even if many thought he was already dead. She, along with the members of Fireteam Epsilon, still had faith that one day they would see him again.
*Inside Lily's Sentinel*
Her eyes were glued to her fragment of Rens sentinel, but instead of crying, she smiled. The reason? Because he gave her the confidence she needed to get through this. Lily respected Ren's words to her and vowed to gain more confidence in herself and her talents. It was almost as if Ren was right there with her.
*Inside of Tylers Sentinel*
Tyler was anxious; it was the biggest moment of his life. More than likely, there would never be anything bigger than traveling to a new solar system and discovering the unknown.
He took a deep breath and looked over to his fragment of Ren's sentinel "We got this, Ren...we got this."
*Serenity's Sentinel*
Serenity was making sure all of her equipment was ready for anything that might happen.
"Ammo full, explosives primed and at the ready, shields at 100%," Serenity said, going over her checklist.
She then looked over to Ren's fragment and smiled "Ren being here... check."
*Eleonora's Sentinel*
Eleonora had her hands clasped together as she began speaking names.
.....Josh Meyers, Arielle Forrester, Sam Robinson, Chloe Elliott, and Ren."
Eleonora had a ritual where before each battle she would say the list of every comrade she had lost in battle since she had begun serving a few years. Since then, she has said the names of over two dozen people in every battle.
This reassured her that no matter what, somebody would remember their sacrifices.
*On the Bridge*
"Ma'am, we have been given the green light."
Aurora took a deep breath and stood up from her chair. "Tell the crew to get ready; today we make history."
The bridge hands told the crew what was happening, and each of them began communicating with the other departments around the ship, telling everyone that they were ready for launch.
Aurora walked over to her communications room and spoke into it.
"Captains, are we all ready?" she asked.
"This is Captain Kiyotaka of the UNS Kyoto; we are ready."
"This is Captain Torres of the UNS Annapolis, at the ready."
"Captain Shaw of the UNS Manchester, we are ready to go."
"This is Captain Keen of the UNS Toronto, ready when you are."
"Captain Dupont of the USN Marseille, systems are green to go."
"Alright." Aurora said before taking a deep breath. "Sync up and launch on the signal. 3....2...1....launch."
All six UNS entered light speed; the stars around them started to blur around them, and they began to warp to the Sirius System.
"How are we holding up?" Aurora asked.
"Everything is going well; no problems so far." one of the bridge hands replied.
Aurora smiled "Perfect, tell all of our sentinel pilots to be ready for deployment."
"Which fireteams, ma'am?" the bridge hand asked.
"All of them." Aurora replied.
After a few minutes, they were ready to leave their warping state and arrive in the Sirius System. There were two suns at the center of the system, creatively named Sirius A and Sirius B.
Along with multiple planets around the two stars, Aurora quickly noticed something.
"Five ships...all bearing the same insignia as those from Alpha Centauri." Aurora said angrily.
"PREPARE FOR COMBAT!"
*In the Sentinel Bay*
"WE ARE A GO LAUNCH LAUNCH LAUNCH!" Keira yelled out.
Every sentinel on the ship launched out of the hangar and prepared for combat; the same was true on every ship, as hundreds of sentinels all launched at the same time.
Eleonora spoke on the comms. "Prepare for this fight; this will be the biggest fight we've ever had. There's five enemy ships, meaning even though we should outnumber them, they hold the advantage, fight smartly, follow orders, and most of all...don't die."
*On the Volarian Ship*
Aurelia was sitting on her ship's bridge with her legs crossed over each other in her favorite chair. She looked at the radar and smiled.
"Princess, it seems we have incoming, getting a visual on them now." one of the pilots said.
An image of the six ships appeared on the screen in front of Aurelia.
"Hmm...seems those from planet three have finally attempted to head to a new system; they chose wrong...launch all knights from every ship." Aurelia ordered.
The knights from every ship they had in the system launched to meet the UNS head-on in combat. However, Aurelia decided not to participate in this battle as she was more focused on the new information she had received. Her younger sister, Lucilia, had recently announced her intent on marrying someone named Ren.
Aurelia had never heard of this Ren and couldn't find anything on him in any database she had.
"Just who is this, Ren?"
"Princess, I understand you're worried about your sister, but there's a battle happening outside. Could you focus a bit more on that?" one of the pilots said.
"Oh! You're right, let's get this over with already." Aurelia said. "Have our generals coordinate their attack efforts, and let's wrap this up early."
"Yes, Princess Aurelia." the pilot said.
One of the guards, who was as young as the other guard next to him, asked a question.
"Why isn't the princess fighting? I heard royal family members chase fame in combat."
The guard smiled and said "That's how I know you're a new recruit. The Princess doesn't get involved in battles; she thinks she will win easily."
"Why is that?" the younger guard asked.
"Well, as you put it, she doesn't have any fame left to chase; she has a famous nickname among all of our knight pilots." the older guard said.
"And what would that be?" the younger guard asked.
"The Blood and Iron Princess."
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